Seasons are changing

Happy Fall! I love the autumn season, I would have to say it's my favorite. I am loving this new place we live and how we are able to enjoy the fall season! It has been fantastic so far... I don't feel like I was cheated out of the season. :)
Well October is a very exciting month in our household!! Dear Miss Madison turned 4!! It seems crazy that 4 years ago we were adjusting to being parents and now here we are 4 years later still trying to figure out parenthood! :) Madi seems like a pretty happy girl, so I think we may have done an okay job. Her birthday was bitter sweet... well I think the bitter was on our end. Let me explain, I decided because she was going to preschool, it would be a good year to have an actual party for her. Like invitations and the whole sha-bang.... This is very out of my comfort zone as many of you I'm sure know... I'm not a party thrower, but I was going to make it happen for little miss Madi as I was sure that's how she wanted her birthday to be. Well after handing out invites and some people RSVP'ing I was excited and I had told Madi a little about what would be happening, and she was so excited to share cake with her friends... Because after all, the cake is what makes a birthday right?? SO I bought some decorations and the night before the party Brian and I put balloons and streamers up all over the house after she went to bed, I got all the signs up and I was pretty happy with how it turned out.... And I was actually even happy when my dear daughter woke up at 2 am and came flying into our bedroom to let us know that "there are balloons for my birthday!!!" When it was finally an acceptable time to get up, we made pancakes for breakfast and had a fun day. When it came time for people to start showing up for her party I realized there was a possibility of no one showing up, and that is when I realized I probably should have never told Madi her friends would be coming over to share cake with her and sing happy birthday... Well no one but grandpa showed up... technically the neighbors came over to drop off a balloon and say happy birthday, and one girl from preschool dropped by to say hi, but that was it. No one could stay for cake and sing happy birthday. :( I was sad for Madi.... I don't think she minded too much because she hasn't ever really had a party before... but still kind of sad. So she got to spend her party with her parents and brother and grandpa! They were good sports and made stick horses with her and had a race or two outside with them, and played pin the tail on the donkey... and we sang happy birthday to her, that made everything better. She got to blow out candles and eat cake... and I was again reminded that party or no party, as long as there is a cake, some candles and a few voices to sing happy birthday, it is a birthday! :) Here are some pics from the party:

That frosting is dye free! Thank you thank you very much pureed beets! :)

Her hallway entrance to a birthday bash. ha ha ha

Because it was a cowgirl theme... we made "stick horses" and had races. Hilarious... some of them turned out great. Brian and Grandpa were super creative, and Madi added a little touch up on all of them!

With the baby toys in the background it looks more like a baby party? Ooops...

Birthday girl!!

We got Madi a gerbil ball for her birthday. Hilarious.... she loved it... Someday hopefully I will download the pics I took on my camera, some are super funny, especially when her feet are pointing up... good times

Mason has hit 7 months now, and he is officially on the move. He sits up pretty good by himself now, and has started the army crawl. It never ceases to amaze me how no matter how cool or how many toys you have for the infant, they will ALWAYS... and I mean ALWAYS go for something else. Preferably a light socket or cords... even dvd's are better than their toys. I remember thinking this with Madi, but wow, it's amazing what we forget in a short time about infant behaviors. Mason is eating the pureed food and has had squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, yams, beets, pears, bananas, apples, peaches, avocados, plums, prunes and blueberries. Pretty sure pears are his absolute favorite, but beets are pretty good too. Avocados don't set as well, the first time I tried them he puked after just a couple hours... the second time he made it to the next day, but puked... Not 100% sure it was the avocado, but we will hold off for a little while longer.

7 Month pic... he was the same size as that giraffe when he was born. :) Thanks Auntie Keisha for the Giraffe! It has been perfect for these pics!

Beets! say what?!?

Madi's witch hat.

Madison is getting so excited for halloween! She has this countdown for the last quarter of the year... first her birthday, then halloween, then mommy's birthday, then thanksgiving and then Christmas!! It is super fun because she is starting to get holidays figured out, and how they can be exciting, and that makes them more fun for us. But for Halloween I asked her what she wanted to be... she told me a cowgirl, no no a witch, no no a punkin... (yes that is how she says pumpkin) So I compromised and said how about a cowgirl witch? She agreed... so we will see how the costume turns out... or if that is even what she wants to be, come halloween... but until then she has a witch hat with green pigtails and rides on her horsey all over the house. Just tonight we put her to bed, then 3 minutes later she came out with her dora nightgown on, with her witch hat... very casual came down the stairs, told us she had to go potty... went to the bathroom, and then as we were just watching her, she tells us, "Don't look at me!" Brian tells her, "It is hard not to stare at you with your witch hat on, and dora nightgown tucked into your undies..." She is so funny... things like that happen all the time and it just makes us chuckle.

This is Madi at daycare... I send a pic to Brian of what clothes she wears so we can hopefully come home with all the clothes and the right shoes.

Just another day in Paradise

Watching conference. I stole this idea from a friend and put words on the cups and every time someone would say that word she got to choose a treat out of the cup... Turns out she hears much better than she lets on.... Especially if it is the chocolate covered raisin cup.

I totally love this picture, because I think it shows a lot of who Madi is and her personality.

I'm getting our house put together. I have some pictures to post of some of it. Our bedroom and all the extra space upstairs is still chaotic, but the other bedrooms and bathrooms are at least unpacked and organized. Still don't have much up on the walls... I'm having a hard time putting holes in the wall. So I did hang some pictures, but I only hung them because I found holes the previous owner had already put.... ha ha ha But it totally worked! :) Nice and centered and I didn't have to do the measuring!

Here is my kitchen... and I LOVE it. I really like the space and the way most things are set up. I need help figuring out what to do above my cabinets, so if you have some ideas give me a shout out! :)

Looking into the living room from the kitchen. I bought the butcher block from a used furniture store. I was pretty pumped about it!!

That door heads out to the back yard.

This room is off of the entry way.

My little bench was also a used furniture store find.

Apparently I don't have any pics of the living room... and so upstairs to Madi's room we go:

Can you find her? She is in there.

 So obviously my walls are still bare, fortunately I've put a few things up since I took these pics... and once I get the other bedrooms a little more organized I will take pics and post them. Until then hopefully this will pacify those that have wondered. :) Nothing glorious but we LOVE it!!


St. John's gave me free tickets to the zoo. So we decided to go... and while the animals at the zoo were not all that spectacular the landscaping was awesome. Because it is fall the leaves were changing and I LOVE fall.... Have I mentioned that yet? Here are some pics...

Our very own tour guide

She may, or may not, have been very good at reading it.... ;)

The boys, who were oh so happy to pose for pictures.

This is how it went most of the time.

Yay for fall days!!

I love this sequence of pictures.

These bald eagles were flightless, they had been injured in nature, so there was no net or anything around them.

And the zoo had a park! That was apparently the best part according to Madi.

Madi actually let the peacock eat out of her hand... And I totally love the way she says peacock. She calls it a "pea-hawk"

One huge pumpkin!

Madi thought this "kitty" was real...

She still wasn't quite sure she could believe dad.

And then we went pumpkin hunting... ha ha ha well we picked out pumpkins from the pumpkin lot at the first alliance church. :)

I love fall and I will continue to enjoy it until the freezing weather comes! Happy fall to you!